LESSON 1a

Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases

Prepositions of Time
In, at, on and no preposition with time words:

at
times: at 8pm, at midnight, at 6:30
holiday periods: at Christmas, at Easter
at night
at the weekend
at lunchtime, at dinnertime, at breakfast time

on
days: on Monday, on my birthday, on Christmas Day
days + morning / afternoon / evening / night: on Tuesday morning
dates: on the 20th of June

in
in years: in 1992, in 2006
months: in December, in June
decades: in the sixties, in the 1790s
centuries: in the 19th century
seasons: in winter, in summer
in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening
no prep
next week, year, month etc
last night, year etc
this morning, month etc
every day, night, years etc
today, tomorrow, yesterday

Prepositions of Place

If something is contained inside a box or a wide flat area, we use ‘in’:

in the newspaper in a house
in a cup in a drawer
in a bottle in a bag
in bed in a car
in London in England
in a book in a pub
in a field in the sea
in my stomach in a river

If something is on a line or a horizontal or vertical surface, we use ‘on’:

on the table on the wall
on the floor on the fridge
on my face on a plate
on the page on the sofa
on a chair on a bag
on the river on a t-shirt
on the ceiling on a bottle
on a bike on his foot
If something is at a point, (it could be a building) we use ‘at’:
at the airport at the door
at the table at the bus stop
at the cinema at at the top
at the bottom at the pub
at the traffic lights at the front
at the back at school
at university at the window
at the hospital at the piano

famous for
France is famous for its food.

proud of
He is very proud of his new car.

interested in
Julie is very interested in sport.

pleased with
John is very pleased with his new suit.
bad at
They are very bad at math.

good at
Einstein was very good at physics.

married to
My mother has been married to my father for 20 years.

excited about
I'm very excited about my holiday.

different from / to
Coffee is different from tea.

afraid of
I'm afraid of spiders.

Verbs and Prepositions

arrive at / in somewhere
We arrived at the airport.
We arrived in London.

belong to somebody
This book belongs to me.

borrow something from somebody

I borrow a book from my classmate.

concentrate on something / doing something

I concentrated on studying at the weekend.

depend on something / somebody

It depends on the weather.

explain something to somebody

The teacher explained the exercise to the students.

listen to something / somebody

I listen to music.

pay somebody for something

I pay the waiter for the coffee.

wait for somebody / something

Wait for me!

worry about somebody / something

Don’t worry about a thing!

The Prepositional Phrase

Recognize a prepositional phrase when you see one.
At the minimum, a prepositional phrase will begin with a preposition and end
with a noun,pronoun, gerund, or clause, the "object" of the preposition.
The object of the preposition will often have one or more modifiers to describe
it. These are the patterns for a prepositional phrase:
PREPOSITION + NOUN, PRONOUN, GERUND, OR CLAUSE
PREPOSITION + MODIFIER(S) + NOUN, PRONOUN, GERUND, OR
CLAUSE

Here are some examples of the most basic prepositional phrase:

At home
At = preposition; home = noun.

In time
In = preposition; time = noun.

From Richie
From = preposition; Richie = noun.
With me
With = preposition; me = pronoun.

By singing
By = preposition; singing = gerund.
About what we need
About = preposition; what we need = noun clause.

Most prepositional phrases are longer, like these:

From my grandmother
From = preposition; my = modifier; grandmother = noun.

Under the warm blanket

Under = preposition; the, warm = modifiers; blanket = noun.

In the weedy, overgrown garden

In = preposition; the, weedy, overgrown = modifiers; garden = noun.

Along the busy, six-lane highway

Along = preposition; the, busy, six-lane = modifiers; highway = noun.

Without excessively worrying

Without = preposition; excessively = modifier; worrying = gerund.
Understand what prepositional phrases do in a sentence.
A prepositional phrase will function as an adjective or adverb. As an
adjective, the prepositional phrase will answer the question Which one?
Read these examples:
The book on the bathroom floor is swollen from shower steam.
Which book? The one on the bathroom floor!
The sweet potatoes in the vegetable bin are green with mold.
Which sweet potatoes? The ones forgotten in the vegetable bin!
The note from Beverly confessed that she had eaten the leftover pizza.
Which note? The one from Beverly!
As an adverb, a prepositional phrase will answer questions such as How?
When? Or Where?

Freddy is stiff from yesterday's long football practice.

How did Freddy get stiff? From yesterday's long football practice!

Before class, Josh begged his friends for a pencil.

When did Josh do his begging? Before class!
Feeling brave, we tried the Dragon Breath Burritos at Tito's Taco Palace.
Where did we eat the spicy food? At Tito's Taco Palace!